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Annie Frances Lee is well known for her unique
ability to celebrate African-American culture particularly with humor. She has
established herself internationally not only as an artist, but a respected and
business savvy entrepreneur. Her noted ability to convey feelings through the
faceless subjects of her paintings has won her a place in history as one of the
icons of African-American art. “My paintings are of everyday life. I try to
paint things that people can identify with,” Lee says.

Born in Gadsden, Ala. in 1935 and raised in
Chicago, Lee began painting at age 10 in elementary school, where she won her
first art contest and received a free semester of study at the Art Institute of
Chicago. She continued honing her artistic skills resulting in a four-year
scholarship to Northwestern University. However, she chose marriage and raising
a family over attending school.

Lee did not resume painting until she was 40 years
old. By then, she had lost two husbands to cancer and raised a daughter from
her first marriage and a son from her second. While working as the chief clerk
at Northwestern Railroad, Annie studied art at night, eventually earning a
masters degree in Interdisciplinary Art from Loyola University. Although she
never intended to teach, after eight years of night classes, Lee told CBB,
“Getting my masters degree was the best thing I ever did for myself. It
reopened my mind.”

Painting at night was Lee’s haven and release from
the pressures of everyday life. Her railroad job inspired one of Lee’s most
popular paintings, “Blue Monday,” which depicts a woman struggling to pull
herself out of bed on a Monday morning. Living in such close proximity to her
art caused new challenges for Lee. She developed tendinitis and spinal problems
from painting so much. Even worse, the fumes from the acrylic paints she used
made her sick. Despite these problems, she continued to paint, having her first
gallery show in 1985. The show was so successful that Lee allowed prints to be
made of four of the paintings, so that she could meet the demand for her work.

In 1986, she lost her son to a tragic car accident.
She took off time to grieve and while doing so, decided it was time to step out
on faith with her talent. She never returned to the railroad.

A hallmark of Lee’s work is that the figures she
paints are faceless. “You don’t need to see a face to understand emotion,” Lee
explained. “I try to make the movement of the body express the emotion. And
people can use their imaginations.”

Annie Lee's art has been used as decorations for
television and movie sets such as “A Different World”, “227,” “Coming to
America,” “Boomerang” and “Barber Shop.”

Her business acumen led her to develop a line of
figurines, high fashion dolls, decorative housewares and kitchen tiles and home
décor items recreated from her paintings that offer the opportunity for
everyone, on any budget, to own a piece of Annie Lee.”